Mike Thibault and Kara Lawson named assistant coaches for the USA Basketball women’s national team

Washington Mystics General Manager and Head Coach Mike Thibault was named an Assistant Coach for the USA Basketball women’s national team for their FIBA Women’s World Cup run earlier this week This is his second time as an assistant coach for Team USA’s women’s team after serving in the same role for the 2008 Olympics. In addition, former Washington Mystics player and Washington Wizards color analyst Kara Lawson will be another Assistant Coach on the staff. Lawson is now the head coach of the Duke women’s basketball team.

Texas A&M head coach Joni Taylor is the third assistant on Team USA head coach Cheryl Reeve’s staff.

Thibault had a video message for the fans which you can watch below.

Lawson, who played for the Mystics from 2014-15 and also served as the Wizards’ TV color analyst from 2016-18, is the second assistant coach with ties to the nation’s capital. She is entering her third season as Duke’s head coach and was the head coach of the USA Basketball women’s 3x3 team in the 2020 Olympics last year. If that weren’t enough, Lawson also was a player on Team USA, where she was on the 2008 team that won the Gold Medal.

The Americans will begin training for the World Cup after the WNBA season ends. The FIBA Women’s World Cup is from Sept. 21 to Oct. 1 in Australia. Team USA will begin play on Sept. 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET (locally, Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m.) when they play Belgium. It will be the Americans’ second match against the Cats this year, after a World Cup qualifier this past February in Washington.

Congratulations Coach T and Coach Lawson. Let’s bring home another Gold this fall!